The motherboard of many computers, including personal computers, laptop computers and computer servers, have a battery receptacle for receiving a coin-shaped battery. The battery provides electrical power to a clock circuit on the motherboard or in the central processor. The clock circuit is intended to run continuously, even when the computer is turned off.
In older computers, the coin-shaped battery also provided electrical power to a memory circuit which stored basic operating software used by the computer. The application of electrical power to the memory circuit, even when the computer was turned off, was necessary to ensure that the data stored in the memory circuit was not lost. In more modern computers, this software is saved on non-volatile memory which does not require the constant application of electrical power to retain the stored data.
The batteries used to power the clock circuits and memory devices of computers have a finite lifetime. Once such a battery has lost a sufficient amount of power by running whatever devices are connected, the computer will register a fault and instruct the user to replace the battery.
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical computer motherboard 100 which includes a plurality of electrical components 102 and semiconductor chips 104 which are mounted on a printed circuit board. The motherboard 100 also includes the central processor 106 of the computer. Further, as explained above, a battery receptacle 112 is mounted on the motherboard 100. A coin-shaped battery 110 is then mounted on the battery receptacle 112.
Because the coin-shaped battery is typically received in a battery receptacle which is mounted on the computer motherboard, accessing and replacing the battery can be time consuming and difficult. In the case of a laptop or desktop computer, it is necessary to open the housing of the computer to access the computer motherboard. The user must then remove the old battery, and insert a new battery in its place. In addition to the time required to make the battery change, opening the housing of a computer and accessing and replacing the battery can subject other internal components of the computer to accidental damage.
FIG. 2 of the application illustrates a typical computer server rack 200 which holds a plurality of computer servers 202, which are mounted in the rack 200. The front face of the computer servers 202 can include handles 204 to facilitate the installation and removal of the servers 202 from the rack 200. In addition, the front faces of the servers can include access doors that cover removable memory devices 206, 208. The access doors can be opened to allow a user to insert and remove the memory devices, such as disk drives.
When it is necessary to replace a battery on the motherboard of a server mounted in a rack, as illustrated in FIG. 2, it is usually necessary to remove the server from the rack in which it is mounted. Once the server has been removed from the rack, a housing of the server must be opened, and one must access the computer motherboard and replace the battery. Thus, the time required to replace a battery in a computer server can be even longer than the time required to replace a battery in a desktop or laptop computer.